


Captain Mike Star's Shameful History

by skaralding



Series: Love Against the Karaoke Heavens [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Chatting & Messaging, Chinese webnovel tropes, Embarrassment, Fame, Gaming, Implied Sexual Content, Karaoke, M/M, Multi, Pre-Threesome, Situational Humiliation, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 05:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20791055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skaralding/pseuds/skaralding
Summary: In the past, jiongjiong was... [cough] [cough], well, let's just let the following scenes speak for themselves...





	Captain Mike Star's Shameful History

**Author's Note:**

> This is a side story to _Love Against the Karaoke Heavens_. Please enjoy young!Jiong in all his dubious playboy glory ;D

“Oh my god,” Eddie said, her usually calm voice almost shrill with impatience, “do you even know how to sing? If you can’t fucking handle it, clear off!”

“Why, huh?” Hakon, three or more sheets to the wind, could sound nearly as shrill as Eddie did, despite his voice being nearly half an octave lower than hers. “What’s so bad about playing around a bit, huh? No one’s watching, we’re just—hey!”

“It’s an insult,” Eddie said, typing furiously at the karaoke room console. “Dishonouring my Daehu reservation like this! Get out!”

“But, my song—”

Annoyed, Mike decided enough was enough. “Leave it,” he said, firmly, his voice a little rough from the slight smokiness in the room, and thankfully, that was enough to settle Hakon. Watching the older boy stomp down off the stage, his broad shoulders drooping, Mike couldn’t help but want to roll his eyes.

It’d been two months since Hakon joined, and in that time, he’d managed to butt heads with nearly everyone over the stupidest, smallest things, to the point that even Jacob, their current, saintly captain, was quietly starting to distance himself. On their team, who didn’t know of Eddie’s passionate love of karaoke? She sang in pre-game chat, sang during breaks, sang afterwards, bitter songs for losses and joyous ones for wins. Anyone was welcome to join in, so long as they sang up to her standards. Which, considering Eddie’s pretty decent skills, meant that nearly anyone that _did_ join in would be sent dagger glances.

Hakon had joined in at tonight’s victory, and been cursed at afterwards, and yet, not two hours later, he’d eagerly ascended the stage in their karaoke room. Sighing internally, Mike pasted on a commiserating smile as Hakon heavily re-occupied the seat beside him, all while thinking to himself that here was a genuine example of someone too emotionally stupid to function. “Don’t worry,” Mike said, anyway, because he could sense the hurt behind the other boy’s grumpy frown, and the last thing he wanted to deal with was any kind of emotional breakdown. “Ed’s like that with everyone, it’s not just you.”

“Denied!” That was Eddie’s roar again, right on time, her fevered blue gaze directed at Jacob’s entourage. “Min-min is fine, but the rest of you voiceless dogs can just keep fucking sitting down!”

‘Min-min’, a.k.a. Lee Min-joon, the sullen front-liner seated near Jacob, was at least intelligent enough to pretend not to have heard that nickname. “Not interested. Someone else can take my slot.”

With Celine and her rowdy bunch of hangers-on not yet here, there was no one around to make the usual dirty joke, so the next couple minutes were fairly peaceful. Then: “I’ll do it, if you don’t mind.”

Inwardly, Mike cringed. That was Andy, a.k.a. Andrew Bai, a.k.a. one of Mike’s most stubborn groupies at the moment. After Mike had called it quits with Ivan last week, Andy had gone from shyly floating around on the periphery to shyly (?) trying to sit next to Mike and fetch things for Mike. Jack, who’d been following the team for a year and a bit now, and Fu, who’d only come on board at the beginning of last season, were passionately united in just one thing: hatred of Andy’s guts.

Andy, a half-siren with the large, liquid eyes and captivating, bell-like voice of a full-blooded siren, was obviously acceptable to Eddie. She signalled him to come up with an impatient wave, and once he did, she began a lively discussion over what songs he wanted to take over. “Just leave that one Hakon already butchered off,” she said. “I’ve heard it so much this week anyway, I’m already sick of it…”

“Butchered?” Hakon said, and began to try and stand up, only for Mike to drag him back down. “Why is she so… I already know I can’t fucking sing, I thought we were supposed to have fun…”

“It’s Daehu, ah, Hakon-nim,” Jack said, lightly. “Honestly, I’m shocked she’d let us use her reservation like this, it’s really hard to get one.”

“What fucking surprise,” Hakon said, half under his breath. “Isn’t it just because she wanted to sing no matter what?”

Mike, about to chip in with a brief, commiserating nothing, abruptly swallowed his words, unable to help but remember what had happened when they were arguing earlier on over where to go to celebrate. Min-joon had been all for their usual bar, Jacob for the fancy hotpot place they hadn’t tried yet, and Celine had been too busy reassuring boyfriend A that she liked him just as much as boyfriend B to pay much attention. Eddie was the one that had wanted to do karaoke no matter what, so when Hakon seconded her, Mike had gone along too, since he didn’t care what they did anyway.

Now, though, now he remembered the way Hakon had paused for a bit when everyone turned to him. The way Eddie had given Hakon a half-pleading, half-threatening gaze. The way Hakon had folded, making Min-joon scoff about how much of a soft touch he was, and Mike inwardly agree that their new striker was only ever any kind of opponent in-game.

_Fuck,_ Mike thought, watching Hakon’s hurt gaze return to the happily chattering Eddie. _That’s all we fucking need, for this big idiot to fall in love with the one girl on the team that he can’t fucking get…_

“Okay,” Andy said, smiling bashfully. “Here I go, I guess.” And then he looked in Mike’s direction, then looked away, as if he were too shy to stand the fact that he’d just crossed gazes with Mike.

“Ugh,” Fu murmured. “Can he be any more obvious?”

“At least he’s not a bad singer,” Jack said, smiling. “It’d be so embarrassing if Eddie shoved him off like she did to you.”

And there, in a nutshell, were both boys’ primary tactics displayed; Fu, short, loud and direct, was the type to greet every potential rival with a lash from his poisonous tongue, while Jack preferred to play the nice, gentle sort, and to be attentive to everyone in the Hallows scene. That said attention sometimes came in the form of sympathetic words and gentle suggestions with hidden, vicious implications was only to be expected; after all, Jack didn’t play the Holy Father type just for the fun of it, but because it let him maintain his standing in the scene.

Probably, it said something unflattering about Mike that he couldn’t help but find the unspoken frustration behind both displays unbelievably arousing. Sometimes, Celine scolded him for the way his various boyfriends and groupies were always so crudely and openly fighting over him, but that was Celine, who scorned interpersonal drama unless she was the one starting it, so Mike just nodded along to her occasional lectures and went on doing as he pleased.

Loud scenes weren’t really his thing, anyway—which was why he’d eventually sent Ivan packing. That boy could make a scene with the best of them, all without raising his voice. The raw emotion he’d displayed during arguments, the feverish joy or rage Mike could half smell, half feel, wafting off his skin whenever Mike finally chose a side… _that_ had been the real draw, at least at first. Months into their relationship, Mike had got thoroughly sick of Ivan picking on everyone that followed the team and trying to force a deeper commitment when their initial agreement had been to keep things casual, but even when they were barely speaking to each other, Mike hadn’t stopped feeling a guilty charge whenever it looked like Ivan was starting to get worked up.

Andy, lanky, straightforwardly pretty, with his soft, lovely voice and obvious infatuation with Mike, was just missing that last little thing that would make Mike reach out to him. _You look lovely, singing like that,_ Mike couldn’t help but think, as he watched him. _I wonder what you’d look like, crying on your knees in front of me…_

“Ah?” Fu said, suddenly, his voice low and wicked. “You’re enjoying that shitty song this much?” In a flash, he was pressed up against Mike’s left side, his hand inching up the inside of Mike’s thigh. “Want help?”

“Wow,” Jack said, from the other side of the now wide-eyed Hakon, “someone’s feeling bold tonight.” The slight discontent in his outwardly carefree tone only made Mike harder; the fact that he could see all the bashful joy in Andy’s expression beginning to drain away was even more stimulating. “Hasn’t even been fifteen minutes since we came in, and already…”

“We’re not the only ones,” Fu shot back, his hand tightening around the erection straining the front of Mike’s jeans. “Check out little Min-Min and his girl over there, they’re practically fucking.”

“Uh,” Hakon said, though this wasn’t his first time seeing how aggressive his new teammates could be behind closed doors, “isn’t this a bit…”

“It’s nothing much,” Mike said, unable to keep from thinking about the most likely factor behind Hakon’s sudden increase in propriety. “It’s just us, anyway. Though,” and he finally put his hand around Fu’s wrist, squeezing at just the right point to make the other boy’s hand limp, “it really isn’t nice to do it when one of us is making an effort up there.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Fu said, licking his lips, not one bit deterred by Mike’s harsh grip. “Will you punish me for being rude?”

“Eddie?” Mike said, loudly, unable to help himself. “Is Fu good enough to go next?”

“Fine, fine, whatever,” Eddie said, too engrossed in scrolling through the song list to notice Andy’s panicky glances. “Just let Andy finish the set, alright? He’s really… fuck!”

“Really… shit?” Fu said, just loud enough that Andy couldn’t miss it. “Really… a suck-up? Really…”

“Stop it,” Jack said, getting up and coming over to swat Fu lightly in the head. “He can hear you, you little bitch.”

“Oh, fuck off, you can’t stand him either,” Fu said, dodging a second hit. “You going for drinks? Can you get me a gin and coke?”

“Sure, yeah, fine.”

“Wait,” Mike said, reaching out to catch hold of Jack’s low-slung belt before he could continue on towards the minibar near the stage. “You do know it’s your turn tonight, right? You haven’t forgot?”

Jack blushed. “No,” he said, lowly. “Do you want anything to drink?”

“Gin.”

“Okay.” Then, when a little wriggling wouldn’t free him from Mike’s teasing grip: “Let _go_.”

“Alright, alright,” Mike said. He didn’t know what was better, the way Fu was currently sulking beside him, or the way Andy was now struggling to keep up his former sweet smile as he finished out his song onstage. “See you soon.”

“Why’s it his turn first?” Fu asked, not even a moment after Jack had taken a step towards the minibar. “Why can’t it be mine?”

“It’s fairer that way,” Mike lied. “It was your turn last, just before Ivan and I went exclusive, wasn’t it?” Actually, he’d just looked at the months-old file named “who-next.txt”, realized he’d stopped bothering keeping track of turns when he started getting closer to Ivan, and then thought of how upset Fu would be if he wasn’t the first one picked. And then how upset Jack would be if _he_ was picked, but had to know that Fu, or worse, Andy, would be next…

“I don’t remember,” Fu said, fiercely, his hands fisting in the cloth of Mike’s shirt. “I’m the one that wants you most,” (definitely a lie, he’d only got into following Mike around because he was trying to one-up Ivan) “so I don’t see why it can’t just be me, when—”

“Can you two fucking shut up?” Hakon hissed. “You’re making me miss some quality fucking drama here!”

“—so I can’t even finish my set?” Andy was saying, his normally soft voice taking on a distinctly whiny, aggrieved note. “Why’d you even ask me to sing?”

“What do you mean, ‘why’?” Eddie retorted, her brow scrunched up in utter disbelief. “Is this kind of room for singing by yourself? Why wouldn’t I want other people to—fuck, what does this even fucking matter. Guys, I’m tacking us on to follow a stream, you can join chat if you like, but don’t any of you say a word in voice, or even consider trying to fucking sing, alright?”

“Stream?” Jacob said, looking up vaguely from his girlfriend’s ample bust. “Oh, okay.”

“But—!”

“Shut up!” Eddie’s attention was all for the room console, and the excitement on her face was enough to indicate what was likely to happen next. When the room around them suddenly went dark, Mike wasn’t at all surprised; when the room filled with the holographic imprint of another, similar room, only with five people onstage, all he could feel was a deep regret for the fact that he couldn’t see what Andy’s expression looked like right now.

It wasn’t just the fact that Eddie had forcefully replaced Andy’s lone form and his shy, amateur movements with that of five obvious pros. It was also the fact that none of the groupies or team members in the room were wearing proper VR gear, and so were relegated to becoming the default person-shaped blob assigned to the audience position in the new room. Andy had not just been replaced, he had been completely and obviously sidelined with no recourse and no opportunity to redeem himself.

[the Hak]: @teamchat heheh

[the Hak]: serves his whiny ass right

[min]: …

[the Hak]: what?? Is it just me that finds that new shrimp annoying???

[jacoboo]: haha, you know how all mike’s fans are, they’re all like that sometimes

[jacoboo]: just bear with it

[ED1EE]: what the fuck, who wants to chat with just you guys right now! God!!1

[ED1EE has temporarily muted this chat room. ED1EE will no longer receive messages sent to this chat room.]

[cee-the-line]: eh, did something happen?

[starmike]: it’s nothing, Ed just hooked us into the room of some k-streamer she likes, that’s all

[cee-the-line]: omg again?

[cee-the-line]: um… celebrate by yourselves ok?? Unnie1 will find something else to do!

[cee-the-line has logged off.]

Meanwhile, in another, smaller private chat:

[fiercefu]: how can she be so fxxing overbearing!

[fiercefu]: just overriding everything, as if we all want to fucking listen to some bullshit streamers!!

[dontmeanjack]: chill out, it’s not like we have to stay in the room

[dontmeanjack]: we just have to give her some face for a bit, right, Mike?

[dontmeanjack]: then the two of us can leave? [smile]?

[fiercefu]: what two! what fucking two!! You can’t fucking monopolize hyung-nim like this ah!!

[starmike]: guys, guys, you three can all back out with me okay? In like fifteen mins?

[dontmeanjack]: okay! [smile]

[fiercefu]: why not just me and you? [wink] [wink]

[anbai]: um… is it okay if I sing first, before that happens?

Uh…

[starmike]: I don’t think you can just casually do that

[starmike]: pretty sure they only let audience members sing when they directly challenge a streamer. That sounds way too scary, haha

[starmike]: i mean, look at how many viewers are hooked in right now, this isn’t just local to Daehu, if anything goes wrong, tons of people will see

[anbai]: I still want to try, though [nervous]

[anbai]: can I?

[starmike]: don’t you like, need gear? A mask, at least?

[anbai]: I don’t mind doing without, haha

[anbai]: no one I know pays attention to this stuff, anyway

[anbai]: other than Eddie-nim, that is [smile]

[fiercefu]: you!! you fucking ungrateful punk!!!

[fiercefu]: how will it be if you disgrace yourself ah?? Won’t that be slapping hyung’s face!!

[dontmeanjack]: calm down, Fu, Andy’s just excited, right?

[dontmeanjack]: if he really wants to give it a try, he can go ahead [smile]

Ah, there was nothing like the smiling encouragement of someone that was a hardened veteran of helping people push themselves to their own deaths. Unfortunately for Jack, depending on the way Andy reacted to his embarrassment on stream, the most likely outcome tonight would be Andy usurping Jack’s place in Mike’s bed.

Then again, it did seem to Mike as if Andy was the sort that might hang in there after a bitter disappointment or two. What would it feel like, seeing the look on his face after such an embarrassment, or perhaps, even after a victory, when the one that ended up allowed to hang onto Mike was Jack, instead of him?

[starmike]: Andy, you know you don’t have to do this to impress me, right?

[starmike]: up to you, if you really want to try, I won’t stop you, but

[starmike]: I’m just saying, putting your face out there isn’t a light decision

Of course, if he ended up backing down, like this, he’d still end up making a really enjoyable expression or two. Shame, after the four of them backed out of the stream’s virtual room. Humiliation, when Fu mocked him, whether it was for having no backbone, or having no sense of propriety. Despair, when Mike ended up bidding Andy and Fu good night, with his arm slung around the shyly smiling Jack…

_You twisted fucking bastard,_ Mike thought to himself, grateful for the camouflage of his blob-form. Like this, he could scheme as much as he wanted without having to worry about controlling how much of it showed on his face, but something about it made him feel exposed. Like the hungry, twisted part of him that revelled a little too much in other people’s pain was all that he was, rather than just a small, carefully leashed part. And like everyone around him could see it.

_I’m not even going that far,_ he told himself, even as the smooth, peppy sound of the streamers onstage washed over him. _They know the game. It’s not like I force anyone._ That was his hardest, and least tested line; he’d seen too much growing up in his father’s outwardly pristine compound to ever want to dip into those murky, disgusting waters. _I don’t ever even hurt them when we’re doing it. They all love being fucked._

Even as Mike told himself that, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of shame; Leah, the only one of his rich-as-fuck cousins that he respected at all, had always been adamant that showing someone their preferred flavour of a good time during the deed was the least you could do as a decent person. Much as Mike had always felt repelled by the heavier sorts of kink—the kind of thing his lecherous father felt no shame at all in being openly into—there had been times when he’d been unable to keep from imagining doing certain things, during. Times when he’d had to clamp down on the sudden urge to make his partner unable to speak, unable to resist.

Most of the time, he could ignore it. Most of the time, there’d already been enough tears shed, enough wild emotion slung around that the twisted part of him didn’t push for more, but he was always on guard against himself, always careful to keep things on the safer track…

“Alright, break time!” The song had ended just a minute ago, and now, the streamers onstage were falling out of formation, ambling about and stretching like normal people, rather than the freakishly athletic, ultra-flexible dance bots they had seemed to be a moment ago. “Oh, I see we’ve got some new friends, hi, hi, hi…”

Alright, that was even weirder, the guy that was speaking had just pointed in the direction of Mike’s blob.

“…thank you,” that guy said, “for showing your love. It is _much_ appreciated.” And then he winked, and blew a kiss in, again, Mike’s direction, only for the crowd to go utterly insane, screaming so loudly that Mike had to rush to dial down the sound. “Requests?”

[ED1EE has unmuted the chat. Messages will now be delivered to ED1EE.]:

[ED1EE]: ahhhhhh!!!! so jjang!!!!

[ED1EE]: captain!!! [good work.jpg]!!!!!!!

[jacoboo]: haha, isn’t it just courtesy to put in a tip when we join?

[min]: courtesy, huh? Isn’t that because the bat mask girl was winking this way during the song?

[min]: you do know your girlfriend’s here too, right?

[min]: don’t f*cking try to pick anyone else up, if you do that, your girl will run off with mine too, they’re both fucking friends with her ok?

[jacoboo]: ah? I really meant well though? [sweats]

[ED1EE]: captain! don’t listen to Min-Min ok~!! Keep up the good work!!

[min]: what fucking work, just pass her the group admin directly!!

[min]: if she wants to throw money away on imaginary guys, she can do it on her own!

[ED1EE]: yes~ pass it to me~

[jacoboo]: …haha, here you go

[ED1EE kowtows to jacoboo in thanks!]

[ED1EE]: watch well, Min-Min, you’ll see how imaginary these guys are when one of them comes to my room tonight, heheheheh~

“Oh?” said the guy that had blown Mike—or, more likely, the entirety of Mike’s group—a kiss. “Wow, some people really are generous…”

[the Hak]: WTF

[the Hak]: eddie, did you seriously mean to drop 2k crystal??!

[the Hak]: did you typo??

[ED1EE]: you think that’s a lot? [cold laughter]

[ED1EE]: take a good look at the stream chat! It’s just the beginning!

[ED1EE]: if I don’t spend well, one of the old whales2 will just snatch my fucking song request like that!!

And indeed, when Mike couldn’t help but pull up the stream chat to take a look, it was as Eddie had said, with the actual words of the stream’s fans very nearly drowned out by a flood of spending notifications.

> **edee-dee is beseeching the gods of this channel! Their holy prayer is:** sacred pool please [excited wave]

> **mr fly is beseeching the gods of this channel! Their holy prayer is:** Yu-chan, you know what I want…

> fan-aaaa: omg, sacred pool +1

> God-B: heheh, you guys really want it huh

> **edee-dee is beseeching the gods of this channel! Their holy prayer is:** sacred pool please [excited wave]

> **Xmyheart is beseeching the gods of this channel! Their holy prayer is:** sacred pool +1!!

> **mr fly is beseeching the gods of this channel! Their holy prayer is:** ah-Yu, ah-Yu, sing for me… [pleading eyes]

> **edee-dee is beseeching the gods of this channel! Their holy prayer is:** sacred pool please [excited wave]

[the Hak]: …this is fucking crazy.

[ED1EE]: stop fucking talking, don’t distract!!

[min]: can’t you just mute if it’s bothering you so much?

[ED1EE has temporarily blocked min. ED1EE will no longer receive messages from min.]

Meanwhile, in Mike’s private chat:

[anbai]: I think it’s now or never

[anbai]: wish me luck, Mike? [hopeful smile.jpg]

[fiercefu]: ugh

[fiercefu has temporarily blocked anbai. fiercefu will no longer receive messages from anbai.]

[anbai]: …T-T

[starmike]: [pats] don’t take it to heart

[starmike]: good luck

[dontmeanjack]: yeah, good luck Andy [smile]

[dontmeanjack]: just sing comfortably ok? You can do it [smile]

Haha. Just imagining the strained expression with which Jack might be forcing out those empty, supportive words was enough to make Mike hard as a rock, hard enough that he could feel it even with the VR room shape messing up his biofeedback.

However, even better was the general reaction to the following, simple line in the stream chat:

> **anandy has issued a 1v1 challenge to Good God X!**

> fan-aaaa: ehhhhhhhhhh??

> edee-dee: WTAF!!

> mr fly: oho, looks like someone wants to die without an intact corpse3~

> Xmyheart: oh my god!! Who the fuck wants an outsider to sing here!!!

> [Xmyheart is warning anandy to back off!]

> [mr fly is warning anandy to know their place!]

> edee-dee: this trash

> edee-dee: is this because i cut you off earlier?

> edee-dee: can you fucking recognize TPO4???

> **edee-dee is beseeching the gods of this channel! Their holy prayer is:** God X, sacred pool please! Please excuse this trash challenger for not knowing his fucking place!!!!

> anandy: uh… what’s so bad about a 1v1?

> anandy: God X can’t be afraid he’ll lose, right?

> anandy: I’m half-siren, so I picked a siren to 1v1. Isn’t it fair like that? [smile]?

> Good God X: …haha, i guess

[ED1EE]: my god!!! The speed!!!

[ED1EE]: it’s unbelievable! Never seen someone dig their own fucking grave so fast!!!!

[the Hak]: what, this guy’s that good?

[ED1EE]: don’t think he’s nice just cos it’s ‘good god’ in front of his name!

[ED1EE]: this kind of guy wouldn’t go easy on a fucking embryo! Andy’s gonna get wrecked haha

“Hmm,” the guy who had blown a kiss said. “It’s been a while since I did a 1v1 challenge…”

So _that_ was the so-called Good God X. Truly, if you had to look at him and the rest of his streamer group, the first one you’d pick as the obvious siren in the group would be the girl a few steps behind him, who was now staring arrogantly in Mike’s group’s direction. That girl, a short, curvy thing with long, untamed brown waves and a bright red pout of mouth beneath the silver-and-white trim of her eye mask, looked about as siren as you could get.

But she was a girl, and Mike had very vocally never been into girls, so hot as she was even with half her face covered, she wasn’t really anyone Andy could consider competition. God X and the tall, smirking beanpole of a guy to his right were the only guys in the group, so they were the only people Andy could justly measure up against. Beanpole guy was tall, thin and rangy, his spiky blonde hair and nervous energy more the kind you’d see in a soldier-type or worker-type, so he was out. God X, on the other hand, was about the same height as siren girl, and… well… _soft_.

Put unkindly, he was more than chubby enough to be called fat, with rounded arms, a prominent stomach and heavy thighs that tapered down to powerful calves. Probably, there was muscle under all that softness, muscle enough that God X wouldn’t fear being in front of the group while they danced. While they’d danced, he’d blended into their powerful performance with obvious, athletic ease, but at rest, if you compared his appearance to the general good looks of the rest of his group?

Haha.

He was the fat one. Sure, he had nice, even brown skin, and the kind of full mouth Mike could easily imagine wrapped around a cock, but that really was all he had going for him. Picking him out as a siren worth of a challenge… Mike had to shake his head, marvelling at Andy’s naked ambition.

Though, then again, as Mike watched God X hem and haw over the challenge, both out loud and on stream, Mike had to admit the boy onstage had _something_. The same thing, perhaps, as his obvious siren girlfriend, who was taking an unsurprisingly dim view of the fact that he’d been challenged in such a way.

> Nameless God: just tell us all how you picked him out a siren

> Nameless God: enlighten us, anandy oppa, ah

> anandy: I was just guessing, ok?

> anandy: you guys all sing so well, it’s kind of inevitable, right?

> Nameless God: ah?

> Nameless God: what if I told you that, out of all of us, the one with the most ‘siren’ in them is that moron, God B?

> God-B: hey, hey, leave me the fuck out of this ok

> God-U-U: namey, just let it go

> God-U-U: we’ve only got like an hour+ left, let’s not waste it on this BS

Naturally, Andy’s misstep was already generating dividends in private chat.

[anbai]: omg T-T

[anbai]: wth is with all these Westhope people…

[anbai]: where i’m from, calling a singer a siren is a compliment, okay! I didn’t mean anything by it [crying]

[starmike]: [pats] just don’t mention it again, alright? People are really touchy about that stuff here

“Hey, anandy, what genre do you like?” God X said. “I feel like we should pin that down first, if we want this challenge to even go anywhere. Also,” he added, with a sudden, dramatic turn back towards the direction of Mike’s group, “aren’t you going to come onstage?”

Screaming erupted once again, drowning out everything in Mike’s vicinity; by the time he felt safe in raising the volume again, the idiotic Andy had already stepped up and gone out to beard the smiling lion in his den, revealing his nervous appearance to all.

> Xmyheart: oho, i smell a stream-crashing fox

> mr fly: right, right, right

> fkofe: wao, wao, what’s happening here, drama [eager eyes]

> God-Y: hehe, some pretty boy wants to try his luck

> God-Y: smile, sweetie, half of Westhope watching you rn

> Nameless God: what fucking half of Westhope?

> Nameless God: damnit, X, you’re too nice by half

> fkofe: eh???

> Nameless God: look at settings, he turned on automask for just that chump [shakes head]

> **edee-dee is beseeching the gods of this channel! Their holy prayer is:** it’s okay even if you tear off this trash’s mask! Let the whole city know his stupid face!!!

> **mr fly is beseeching the gods of this channel! Their holy prayer is:** burn him up well, God X! Sacred pool after, please~

> **Xmyheart is beseeching the gods of this channel! Their holy prayer is:** burn then pool! Burn then pool!!!

It was kind of both hilarious and alarming that Eddie and the channel whales didn’t forget their competition despite all of the uproar. While that was going on, God X shooed away his companions and welcomed the nervous-looking Andy onto the stage with a charming smile. A whispered, deliberately inaudible discussion between the two boys followed, one that included Andy blushing and stammering while darting hopeful, pleading looks in God X’s direction.

> Good God X: Okay, here’s how it’s going to go

> Good God X: anandy’s letting me choose any song by TAE, so I’m gonna go easy on him

> God-U-U: wtf lol

> fan-aaaa: [spits]

> fan-aaaa: what easy, hehe, an easy death is still death! Kill him well, X!!!

> Nameless God: well well, singing a siren’s songs, huh

> Nameless God: don’t shame your fellow sirens, anandy, okay?

> Nameless God: after all, you’re the siren with the purest blood in this challenge…

[starmike]: huh? @anbai does that mean you guessed right?

[starmike]: is that X guy really a siren?

[anbai]: somewhat, it’s just pretty far back ah

[anbai]: okay, going up, wish me luck ah!!

[starmike]: good luck

[fiercefu has unblocked anbai. fiercefu will now receive messages from anbai.]

[fiercefu]: die well, then come back and cry well, ok?

[dontmeanjack]: haha, you’re too harsh, Fu

[dontmeanjack]: sing well, Andy!

[fiercefu]: what fucking sing well, aren’t you hoping he’ll lose his fucking voice

[fiercefu]: or pee himself onstage, lolol

But, contrary to both Fu and Jack’s hopes, once Andy cleared his throat and began to sing, the stream chat slowed to an appreciative trickle, and no wonder. He was clearly giving it his all, putting in little dance moves and head shakes, and his lovely voice was as pure and smooth as anyone could want.

> fkofe: hehe, fox-chan isn’t bad

> Xmyheart: [scoffs]

> Xmyheart: it’s just this, huh?

> Nameless God: hey, hey, sshhhh. He’s singing!

Thus, with the word of one of their gods as their command, the stream chat went empty and silent, and all that filled the room was the dark, honeyed sound of the song. At key points, Andy’s heated gaze repeatedly went back towards the area where Mike was standing with the rest of the group; those brief, meaningful looks made it clear just why he would go this far. Why he would expose himself like this.

It really was a pity that just that, and only that kind of naked want wasn’t anywhere near enough to satisfy Mike’s deepest desires. While he was growing up, he’d faced that kind of gaze so many times that he’d become numb to it. Bastard or not, rebellious or not, win or lose, Mike had always been wanted, for money, for status, for looks, for being an in to his shitty family, or to the pro players’ side of the Hallows scene. These days, he entertained himself by seeing just how far he could push things with the boys that clung to him. Just how much _did_ they want him? Just how much could they bear with, before he gave them even the slightest shadow of what they wanted? Just how much could they take?

Surprising as it was that Andy would risk this much, it wasn’t quite enough to make him interesting. At least not yet, not until Andy had his performance forcibly contrasted with someone who had the skill to make him look alright, or look absolutely stupid. As Andy finished the song with a dramatic pose, Mike couldn’t help but come a little bit to attention.

He couldn’t wait to see the face Andy made, when this smiling, charming God X finished him.

“Wow,” God X said, climbing back onto the stage. “Not bad. Very natural take there.”

Ooh, had the takedown already started?

“I’m not good at all the fancy stuff with the lighting and the props and all that,” Andy said, shyly. “Just thought I’d, y’know, give it a go without.”

“But you don’t mind if _I_ use any of that, do you?”

“Well, no…”

> Xmyheart: this moron!!!

> Xmyheart: lighting is the #1 fucking tool ah!

> fkofe: aiya, that’s no fox

> fkofe: this little kid not even knowing how to stage, aiya…

> mr fly: huhuheheh truly dying without a corpse ah

> sansan: eric, what do you think?

> sansan: could we polish?

> God-Y: ya!! wtf, this is our stream, if it’s recruiting, we have first dibs ah!

> Nameless God: recruit? To _us_?

> Nameless God: don’t joke with me.

“Guys, guys, this is _my_ challenge, alright? I’ll do the education, here.”

“It’s a challenge, not an education,” someone called out, from the crowd. “Finish him!”

“I didn’t sing that badly,” Andy said, nervously. “Did I?”

“Oh, you were alright,” God X said, patting him familiarly on the shoulder. “It’s just… oh my god, I don’t even know where to start, I’ll show you. Push off, push off now.”

[anbai]: uh, mike?

[anbai]: was it really that bad?

[starmike]: you were fine, seriously, don’t worry

[starmike]: well done [smile]

Even as Mike sent that last message, the unseen lights went out, leaving only a thin, gentle spotlight on God X and the tall, old-fashioned microphone that had appeared out of nowhere. The rich light made him a formless, almost frightening wraith, right up until he looked up and smiled at the breathless crowd.

Then he sang, and Mike heard—and felt—every word. More than that, more than that, it was as if there was nearly no room separating them, as if he were sitting right below the stage, and was the one God X had picked to sing to.

But was it God X? The smooth, impassioned voice sounded like it could belong to the boy that had been smiling at Andy and taking pity on him just a moment ago, but the way the singer moved… there was an underlying stiffness to it, and an unmistakeable repetition, too. When he shook his head left and right, he moved exactly the same amount. When he leaned, it was with the same leg. When he raised a hand, it was the same one, or the movement was mirrored to the way he’d raised his other hand.

Even with that, despite the fact that he looked and felt more and more like an empty robot shell as Mike watched him, something about the look in God X’s eyes made Mike unable to look away. Made him think about what that flexible mouth would taste like, or what lay beneath the upper reaches of the black silk of his mask…

At the peak of the song, God X _moved_, suddenly alive, or almost alive, his voice gaining power. The lyrics he sang hammered into Mike, generic words of praise and desire given unholy force, God X’s slightly roughened voice and intense gaze only heightening the effect, making Mike shiver where he sat.

Then, just when Mike’s mouth had gone dry, God X retreated, repeating his last line, his movements gaining order again as he reclaimed the microphone. His grip on it looked tighter now, and his gaze burned, and even though Mike got the concept, got that the boy onstage was trapped somehow, constrained, he didn’t care. Watching him forced to sing, forced to display himself, was a rush like nothing else.

And then the song was over, and the screaming of the crowd around Mike filtered in, until it was all he could hear.

[ED1EE]: [bites lip]

[ED1EE]: that fucking andy…

[ED1EE]: won’t forgive, but, with God X’s good work, I think I can let the bastard live…

[ED1EE]: mike!! That trash better not become your di wife5 ok??

[ED1EE]: hear me?? @starmike

[starmike]: heard, heard, heard ah

[the Hak]: I don’t know, I feel like it was kind of forced

[ED1EE]: forced?? What fucking forced????

[ED1EE]: that was a concours song routine, you moron!!!

[ED1EE]: it originally got a solo win, ah, a solo win! do you even know how hard that is1!!!! FUCK!

[the Hak]: oh? But isn’t this guy in a group?

[the Hak]: how’d he get a solo win, then?

[ED1EE]: …

[ED1EE has temporarily blocked the Hak. ED1EE will no longer receive messages from the Hak.]:

[the Hak]: [crying]

[the Hak]: is what I said unreasonable?? Wasn’t I just asking ah?

[the Hak]: mike? min? captain?

[the Hak]: anyone????

Unfortunately for Hakon, Mike was currently too busy reassuring various parties in his private chat to pay much attention to team chat.

[starmike]: you guys are overreacting, ah

[starmike]: the focus thing was just a generally applied effect, right?

[starmike]: and even if it wasn’t, couldn’t it just have been directed at our whole group?

[anbai]: QAQ you don’t understand!

[anbai]: I told him, ok!! I told him i was trying to impress someone in my group

[fiercefu]: well fucking done!

[fiercefu]: digging not just your grave, but ours too!! You unbelievable fucking shit-for-brains fuck!!!

[starmike]: guys…

[dontmeanjack]: Andy, what did you tell him, precisely?

[dontmeanjack]: It’s one thing if you just told him ‘oh, I like someone in my group, help me out’

[dontmeanjack]: v different if you told him anything about mike

[anbai]: why the hell would I do that??

[anbai]: i literally said ‘a guy’! ‘a guy’ ah!!! How would he somehow find out

[anbai]: that I’m riding along with a Star??

[dontmeanjack]: transcript?

[anbai]: ……

[anbai has left the chat.]

[fiercefu]: hahaha, from that, it looks like our An-An’s feeling a little guilt~

[fiercefu]: hyung, hyung, this streamer trash isn’t cosying up to you in private, right?

[fiercefu]: and even if he is, you won’t touch trash like that when you have me, right??

[dontmeanjack]: how shameless are you being right now?

[dontmeanjack]: it’s not for us to tell Mike what to do

And of course, on top of that, said ‘streamer trash’ was merrily messaging back and forth in the default chat of their karaoke room with an over-the-moon Eddie.

[xybu-god-x]: @daehu.karaoke.rm.5128 hi everyone!

[edee-dee]: god x!!!!!! hi!!!!!!! :D

[xybu-god-x]: you guys have been really generous tonight, ah

[xybu-god-x]: I hope Andy’s oppa will comfort him well [wink]

[xybu-god-x]: sorry for the hard press, my fans just wouldn’t accept anything less, ok?

[edee-dee]: omg who cares about him!!! That TAE solo was too jjang, too fucking hot!!

[xybu-god-x]: haha, thank you!

[xybu-god-x]: I saw Fee do the actual run in person at last year’s concours, it gave me chills

[edee-dee]: wow, really??

[xybu-god-x]: yeah, really turned me on to TAE big time

[edee-dee]: omg same!!

[xybu-god-x]: anyway, I gotta hop back in to sing, hope you guys have a good night

[edee-dee]: thanks for stopping by! Break a leg ah!!! (((＼（＠v＠）／)))

[xybu-god-x]: haha, will do [wink]

[xybu-god-x has left daehu.karaoke.rm.5128]

To be honest, though Mike doubted Andy had said anything at all identifying about him to God X, he couldn’t help but wish Andy had been just a little more indiscreet. That God X could be like that on stage, and so seemingly smiley in person, and so ruthless in the face of Andy’s naive hopes… it really made Mike want to see his face, see a glimpse of what he could be like in person.

No one that magnetic had ever wanted Mike on more than a superficial level, and he couldn’t help but imagine how it would feel to have someone like that, someone so talented and untouchable, look up at him with a face full of tears…

[dontmeanjack]: Mike?

[dontmeanjack]: are you listening?

[starmike]: yep, yep

[starmike]: you guys saw that, right? the room chat?

[fiercefu]: hmph! isn’t that just the public face??

[fiercefu]: who knows what that slut is like in private…

[starmike]: I can tell you for a fact that _I_ don’t know [smile]

[starmike]: hasn’t messaged me or anything, so can you both stop worrying?

[anbai has joined the chat.]

[anbai]: I’m not feeling too well rn, I’m going to head out of the room for some fresh air

[anbai]: mike, you were right, I shouldn’t have done it T-T

[fiercefu]: [scornful laugh]

[dontmeanjack]: it’s no big deal, Andy, I checked the stream settings, you were automasked

[dontmeanjack]: so no need to worry

Fuck, Jack was just on fire tonight, wasn’t he? Checking the stream settings, haha, in other words, probably hoping to see hard evidence of Andy’s impending embarrassment for himself. Mike wouldn’t put it past him to somehow ‘accidentally’ leak raw, screen-capped footage from the stream in future, if only to the Hallows circle, just to make sure Andy couldn’t hold up his head anymore.

Maybe, just for Andy’s sake, tonight’s best choice was Jack. Fu could be annoying when smug—which he definitely would be with not one, but _two_ resounding defeats witnessed tonight—but Jack managed to combine self-satisfaction with an underlying desperation that hit every single one of Mike’s buttons.

[starmike]: okay, I think that’s enough face for eddie

[starmike]: let’s all tap out and maybe grab a few drinks?

[fiercefu]: !!

[fiercefu]: fuck yeah!

[dontmeanjack]: sounds great [smile]

[anbai]: !! can I come?

On the other hand, Mike hadn’t yet seen Andy’s embarrassment, Andy’s humiliation. It’d been impossible to pay attention to anyone other than God X during the song, and by the time it was over, and the lights came back up, Andy’s shy form was nowhere to be seen. Surely there was no reason to immediately send him off, not without first taking a nice, close look at his badly hidden disappointment…

[starmike]: of course you can come, andy

[starmike]: tapping out now, see you all in the room [wink]

As they all came out of their VR-induced stupor, it was impossible not to notice that the room Eddie had been so vigilant about keeping unstained by improper singing was now being thoroughly tainted by other things. Jacob and his girlfriend were entwined in a darkened corner; Min was fucking a girl on the couch, all while she eagerly ate out another trembling girl. Even Eddie herself was in on the debauchery, if to a slightly more tame extent, plugging up her cunt with her favourite vibrator with slow, half-hidden movements as she prepared to settle into watching her karaoke stream for the long haul.

Hakon was watching her with a hand down his pants, but that wasn’t Mike’s problem, especially since Hakon showed no signs of trying to head over to where Eddie was sitting to intrude on her me-time. Mike’s real problem right now was how to manage the three eager boys that were gathering around him, Jack smiling as he offered his two rivals drinks, Fu sneering but accepting one, and Andy looking as embarrassed and shy and conflicted as anyone could want as he accepted his drink.

“What, none for me?” Mike said, and received the thrill of his life when he saw Jack freeze, and then flush with embarrassment. “You forgot?”

“Um,” Jack said. “I’ll go get it, sorry.” But he lingered there in front of Mike for a tantalizing moment, obviously reluctant to leave. “Gin, right?”

“No, it’s fine,” Mike said, watching the way Andy and Fu’s expressions twisted a little in disappointment. And then: “You guys don’t mind sharing with me, right?”

God, the desperate desire on all of their faces… _Just how hard would it be to make it so I can fuck them all at once?_ It would deal a solid hit to the little fiction they all shared, one that said _the_ Michael Star could surely only want, only need to have one of them all to himself, but fuck, he wanted to do it anyway. Wanted to see just how each of them would look, begging for his cock, begging for his attention.

_Well,_ Mike thought, as he stretched out a hand toward Jack’s drink, _here goes nothing._

* * *

* * *

  1. **Unnie:** Korean word for older sister. Usually used by a female speaker. Can also be used to refer to yourself.↩

  2. **Whale:** internet slang for someone who spends a really high amount of money, usually on games. Has become a word for high spenders in most internet pursuits.↩

  3. **Die without an intact corpse:** butchered English translation of a Chinese idiom. Considered a very miserable and unlucky death.↩

  4. **TPO:** a Japanese made acronym that means ‘Time, Place, and Occasion’. Used when someone is heartily disregarding one or more of those when interacting with others.↩

  5. **Di wife:** ‘di’ is pinyin for ‘official’. In ancient China, the ‘official wife’ was the one that got more benefits from her marriage to her husband. She and her children would automatically be recorded in the family lineage, and were considered first in line for receiving various honours and privileges.↩


End file.
